You are running a kernel (version 2.6.38-powerpc64) and attempting to remove the same version. This is a potentially disastrous action. Not only will /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-powerpc64 be removed, making it impossible to boot it, (you will have to take action to change your boot loader to boot a new kernel), it will also remove all modules under the directory /lib/modules/2.6.38-powerpc64. Just having a copy of the kernel image is not enough, you will have to replace the modules too.

I repeat, this is very dangerous. If at all in doubt, answer Yes. If you know exactly what you are doing, and are prepared to hose your system, then answer No.

Booting from asbestos (bootos 2.01), livecd unpacked to usb fat32 drive. I boots to logon screen, but doesn’t auto logon. Any suggestions? I reinstalled, to no avail. Anything I can do to trigger auto logon sequence?

Thought of that, but console wants a user name as well.
What does your kboot.conf entry look like?

The only error I can see with startup is something about alsactl restore failed with set control:1219: unknown control.2.read field and unknown control.2.playback field and unknown control.2.value field. I’m guessing that is the auto set stuff? It’s happenning very early in startup…before setting console screen modes. I’m actually running off a hard drive, not a flash device, so maybe timing is the issue.

Ok, it boots with petitboot, so I bet my knowledge of kboot.conf (which is poor) is why I had troubles with it. Now, I have two issues: I have a ps3 fat, which seems to not like the wired/wireless driver when running from the livecd; and, installing wants to take over an entire drive – I need to manually determine partiitions to install to. Any way to work around either issue?

If you want install it on the PS3’s internal hard disk, You should to reserve space using OtherOS++ Tools. Be carefull, because this method will format your PS3’s internal hard drive and your data will be erased.

If you don’t want to format the internal hard drive, you can install Red Ribbon on an external hard drive or an USB pendrive. I recommend you to use an empty external storage device.

If you want more info about the Red Ribbon installation, It is available at the wiki. 🙂

Yay! It all works now, even the Ethernet and Wifi. The two issues I had were the kboot.conf, which switching to petitboot resolved, and the install script is unfriendly to installing to a different partition on same HDD – but a little script hackage resolved that.

I can’t say I’m fond of some of the default applications, but the system performance is better than I expected. I do have the red blinky on shutdown, but that is hardly significant. Execellent job incorporating all the misc PS3 tweaks!